This isn't meant to denigrate anyone going to a high-ranked school or the schools themselves.... As far as I'm concerned, they do offer significant advantages and I can understand many reasons for wanting to pursue an education at such an institution. That being said, there isn't ANY financial incentive (barring significant aid/scholarships) as far as I'm concerned.

Simply put, if there are students out there deciding on big-name schools because they think they'll be better off financially because of it....Then they're unequivocally idiots and out of touch with the profession as a whole.

Lets be honest though, your chances of getting your foot into that Startchitect office or Academia down the road are certainly increased with a Ivy league degree or an AA diploma. But I shouldn't have to remind anyone that neither academia nor high-profile design offices are a recommended route to financial success within the profession of architecture...

I guess what I'm trying to say is pick the high-ranked degree (again, whatever that is) because you want to, you think it'll somehow enrich your education, be a fulfilling experience, challenge you, etc. But to expect (or justify your decision based on) economic payback, is not only naive. It's foolish.

networking networking networking  that is the biggest thing ivies are good for

That's what you always hear, but networking with whom?  To teach?  Kiss asses?  Rich people that will hire you??

Personally, I am skeptical of this "networking" coming from the school (obviously there are some, with any school, variables, like remaining the same town, etc.).

Anyone with evidence to the contrary?

I'd like to hear more discussions on networking as well, since its certainly not the first time the subject has been mentioned on here. 

But really, who are architecture students networking with (besides other arch students and proffs) and most importantly, is there really a financial incentive in doing so?

networking, period, no matter where you go or what you're doing. 

trace -- here's my take on your question (albeit altogether lacking in "evidence").

No question that 'networking' is a fundamental skill for developing a successful practice. However - while one is in school - it seems to me it's unclear who one would network with - or how. Certainly, networking within one's own department doesn't seem a productive endeavor for generating future business.

As architecture students, I question whether many of us have the time, or the inclination, or the skills, to network in a truly effective manner with students in other departments -- for example, just how often will architectural students find themselves in a position to spend time with students in finance and business?

In my experience, the graduates of Ive League schools scatter to the far winds upon graduation and, except for very close personal friends, it's really hard to stay in touch with more than a few of the people one meets during school. For that reason, relationships with most college chums tend to have a short half-life.

I tend to believe that effective networking really begins after graduation, when one begins to come into regular contact with pools of people who repeatedly engage the services of architects. One certainly can develop networking skills while in school, but "productive relationships" are more likely to happen post-graduation.

unless you're sucking up to professors, networking isn't really what school is for.  everyone asks their professors for jobs and connections and the student/teacher ratio is just too much of a gap... i have some friends who have gotten jobs out of them, but its certainly a small minority.  it can help if you're really good and are a favorite, but not everyone can be in that 95th percentile.

for me, as i'm still a student, i've found that networking starts when you actually work with people.  in the past i've worked at a couple small firms in addition to some non-arch places, and i have to say thats where people start to get to know you and your abilities.  

my bosses that i've had all used to work at larger firms and have their own 20 year networks that i can tap into once i graduate.  i've even been told on multiple and separate occasions that they can help me find a job at a bigger firm once i graduate since they know people.  am i an outstanding architect?  maybe! haha most likely not.  i can't even work on construction documents by myself.  its all network.  if i'm recommended and get a job, its because of my connection that i got there, not because i'm any better than the guy with no connection.

anyway not to digress, but try telling all my school buddies applying to expensive grad schools that names aren't important.  i think since most students i know are in unrecoverable debt they really don't care about adding another drop in the bucket.

i personally would rather be financially free, but i'm in the minority.  school is the only thing most students have known since they first stepped into pre-school... there's no concept of the working world.  they're trying to be the best in the environment they know, which in architecture, as mentioned by quizzical,  doesn't correlate outside of academia.

networking can work in school, as well.  for instance, i did a co-op while in arch school and the relationships i made through that led to my first job when i graduated.  i was a double major with the second major being in an unrelated field and through the relationships i built there i got my first paid design project (custom home conceptual design and budget estimate).  i found the cheapest, nastiest whole-in-the-wall apartment complex --- nasty, nasty, nasty --- for $135/month (early 2000's) because I wanted to try renovating a space and I figured in such a place no one would mind, unlike your typical college apartment complex where the leaser would pitch a fit.  the property manager agreed to let me renovate my apartment and liked the final product well enough that she paid me to renovate four other units in the building.  networking can happen while in school.  but it is unlikely to be with the arch faculty --- but that is their loss.

correction --- hole-in-the-wall

well i consider paid co-op real world, not school since its a job.  otherwise yeah, all my networking thus far has been through school.  i was talking mainly about faculty networking.  

what was the agreement with the apartment?  did they pay for the first one or did you buy the unit or something?

networking networking networking!!!

And then one day a recession hits, and half of your network is unemployed as well, while the other half is barely hanging on to a job.

Next thing you know is people you haven't heard from in years are hitting you up for employment opportunities. I guess you were part of their imaginary network as well.

To be fair all of my freelancing gigs in the last two years came from people I knew. Most of the time from very unlikely sources: "Hey rusty! Heard you were looking for work. Call me. btw thanks for letting me crash with you back in '98". No idea who that was.

I guess the lesson is don't think of it as "networking". Be nice to people you meet, and just be yourself. Lord flying spaghetti monster forks in mysterious ways.

Speaking of the Money Magazine article, NY Times was arguing today that all med schools should be free since the debt by medical students is shaping profession in undesirable ways.

Rusty, you make a good point. My opportunities that came from 'networking' didn't and don't come because I'm angling for work. Rather, because I was a good tenant who renovated an apartment well or because of some mutual interest or something other than me trying to get work. It helps if you enjoy people and are curious and active. Due89, I was going to pay for it myself but the owner agreed to buy materials if I kicked in the labor. Then for the next four units I got a lump sum payment to renovate them.

being nice helps.  somehow not enough or else canada would own the world already.   hmmm, maybe we do and we are just too nice to point it out.

best network is the one with all of your independently wealthy trust fund friends.  according to archinect insiders they are all over the place in the ivies.

I found it too hard to network while devoting myself to moving little colored lines around on a computer screen. Once I stopped doing that, the networking thing started working for me. Something to think about.

With no link, and no article by that name on their website, it is kind of hard to evaluate the claims you attribute to this article. It does, however, fly in the face of a very large body of literature that spans the best journals in Sociology, Economics, and Education, so I'm inclined to think that either you have quoted this person out of context, or they are sensationalizing their findings for popular press consumption. The same magazine does have an article claiming that an online degree is a great investment, which is full of links to recruiters for said online universities, so you will forgive me if I conclude that Money is likely a poor place to look for evidence.

Brewer, Eide, and Ehrenberg's landmark article on the subject says that a top private education will produce (statistically) a multiplier on lifetime earnings approaching 2.8 times, where a top public will produce 1.1. There are a number of studies that suggest that the percentage difference is less in the first one to three years, and more in the fouth to tenth years. But that is really micromanaging our topic.

None of these studies is attentive to the impact that your major will have on your earnings, because the evidence is clear that it probably won't. About one in ten Americans will enter a profession shortly after completing college and remain there for their working life (interestingly, an equal number of the people who apply to architecture school will acquire a license). 

The thing that bugs me about these claims is that he is talking about a career, so his grades and test scores are from when exactly? I'd mostly be interested in the claim that there was a significant change for minority population in his sample.

His basic conclusion -- that an average earning potential of the graduates of any institution is a poor reason to consider taking on substantial additional debt -- has no statistical merit (which appears to be the only merit he is claiming for his argument). While it is likely the case that many of the graduates of an elite school will not make boatloads of cash, enough will that the *average* one will make an extra $40k or so a year. It'd take a lot of student loans to cover that.

With no link, and no article by that name, it is kind of hard to evaluate the claims you attribute to this article

OOPS I made a typo but adding an R to brewe"r" yielded the same results.  Just so you can verify that I did not photoshop the results  http://tinyurl.com/3dlz4qp

http://www.jstor.org/pss/146304

Hmm, I found it.

Richard the two articles are about public universities vs private ones, not specifically architecture.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery no?  It just so happens I found a chance to immediately quote the good point that mespellrong made.  Since I don't have Jstor access right now I can not read the full article JJR posted a link to.

One author is a professor at BYU another a professor at Cornell.  Now I am not taking a position one way or the other ( I would probably lean towards private education leads to better pay if you use the networking) on the school issue, but what do you think the chances are that two professor's from exclusive schools would co author a report that says their schools cost too much and are not worth the expense?

So, in conclusion, life is about networking, which we can all agree on, without hesitation.  

Also, today, those networks are largely fractured with so many layoffs and unemployed (and bankrupt, I have more than a few completely bankrupt clients).

The Ivy vs. the Public seems inconclusive, at best.  It would be largely naive of someone to justify their expense with the "you will have a different {read 'better'] network".

Some professions do pay those coming from top schools much better, such as business, law and medicine.  There is zero, zippa, notta, evidence that architecture will pay a penny more, particularly today.

There it is.  More or less what I (we) were hypothesizing at the top of this thread.  Someone should really be compiling all these into one handy PDF as "Essential Readying for the Aspiring Architecture Student", right next to the list of the "best" schools.

Not to sound naive, but money isn't everything - obviously the schools that produce the grads with the greatest starting incomes are not necessarily the best 'schools'. And if you go to a private school thinking that you'll come out into money, you are the naive one.

Not to sound naive, but money isn't everything

Agreed.  The problem is college was hammered into everyones heads to the point that most students and even guidance counselors don't question the loan repayment vs future income.  It was touted as a good way to have a nice middle class lifestyle or better.  Now there are many degrees that don't make financial sense if you have to borrow money for college.  I also agree that college is a great experience and should be considered in more than purely financial terms.  Money becomes a lot more important when you have to consider things like not being able to afford a house or take a vacation because your a slave to your loans for a decade or longer.

on the subject of networking in school...

I did my undergradaute degree in a private university in the US and my masters in a small association in London and found in both the more formal setting of the American system and the very relaxed style of said association in London, 'networking' came naturally by being a good student and being myself. I did not have to kiss-ass or over-sell myself to make long-standing relationships with people.

That being-said, most of the jobs I have ever gotten have been a result of a connection I made somewhere along the line. Actually, I have yet to get a job by sending my material.

Furthermore, you don't have to go to an Ivy league school to meet people worthy of networking with. I have found that the professors and jurors at non-Ivy schools have less ego and therefore are actually more helpful, but many went to an Ivy league school or worked for one of the big firms.